Mechanical musical instrument.



No. 692,208. Patented Ian. 23, I902.

- J. MGTAMMANY.

MECHANICAL MUSIGALINSTRUMENT;

(Application filed Aug. 4, 1898.)

3 Sheets-8heet I.

(No Model.)

\X/ITNE 5555;

No. 692,208. Patented Ian. 28, I902.

.1. McTAMMANY.

MECHANICAL MUSICAL ENSTRUMENT.v

(Application filed Aug. 4, 1898'.)

3 Sheets-8heai 2.

(No Model.)

No. 692,208. Patented Ian. 28, I902.

J. MCTAMMANY.

MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

- (Application filed Aug. 4, 1898.) um Model.) sysnmEsmu 3.

a d3 d d FILE- IT [3.5- 1 a I 1/ w a Q 77V 772/ Gwrf W' i onms Fans 20.,mom-Luna wAsmnnTon n c Nina SATES JOHN MCTAMMANY, OF SPENCER,MASSACHUSETTS.

MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Batent No. 692,208, dated January28, 1902.

Application filed At m 4,1898.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN MCTAMMANY, of Spencer, in the county ofWorcester and-State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Mechanical Mu-' sical Instruments, of which thefollowing is a specification. I p I 1 This invention relates to theautomatic operation of wind musical instrumentssuch as flutes, piccolos,flageolets, clarinets, cornets, and each and all of the Wind instrumentsheretofore performed on by the human lungs,

closing the holes.

lips, andflngers. While specifying certain instruments to which I regardmy invention as more especially applicable, nevertheless many of itsfeatures are sufficiently comprehensive to apply to other automaticmusical instruments. Consequently I do not limit myself to itsapplication to theinstruments above mentioned.

In order to illustrate the application of my invention, I have shown a"flute orpiccolo which differs from the ordinary instrument in that theusual keys are dispen'sed'with and the holes are in a'single straightline'instead of being distributed in the ordinary way to suit thearrangement of the fingers of the human hand, the said holes beingeleven in' number and taking the place of the normally open finger-holesand the key-controlledholes of an ordinary flute. There are six openfinger-holes and six key-controlled holes in an ordinary flute; but astwo of the latter are used interchangeably to produce the same efiectthere are only eleven holes which modify the tone. These holes, asalready stated,I arrange in a straight row which extends longitudinallyof the flute. Each hole is controlled by a valve which acts'as asubstitute for a human finger in opening and Hence the said valves arehereinafter referred to as fingers. Theyare operated automatically inaccordance with the arrangement of perforations in a perfo ratedmusic-sheet, hereinafter described. A blowing mechanism, the operationof which is also governed by the perforated musicsheet, is alsoemployed, said mechanism including a nozzle which presents a blast ofair tothe usual mouth-piece of the flute. To produce the lower tone D ofthe scale, all the eleven holes are closed. D-sharp is produced SerialNo. 687 688. (No model.)

by opening thefirst hole, leaving the others closed. E-natural isproduced by opening the first and second holes, and in like manner allthe other tones can be produced by opening and closing the holes. Itmustbe borne in mindthat the keys are employed.

and the holes arranged out of alinement in the common flute to enablethe human fingers to compass orcontrol the necessary number of holes;but there being no limit to the combinations that can be made by amusicsheet it follows that it may be likened to a musician having afinger for every hole necessary, the fingers being arranged to cover theholes when the latter are arranged in a single straight row. The flutehas several special characteristics that must be dealt with in order toproduce a satisfactory automatic instrument. In the first place,adifference in tone maybe produced by increasing or diminishing'theamount of air entering the mouthpiece, and another difierence may beproduced in the pitch of tones by. the manipulation of the finger-holesof the instruments or byboth agencies combined. Still another differencemay be produced by obstructing the conduit'that presents the blast ofairto the mouthpiece, this being ordinarily accomplished by the tongueof the operator and known as ton-guing.

My invention has mechanical provisions for the'accomplishmentof theabove-mentioned results and will now be described in detail, and pointedout in the claims.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all thefigures.

In the drawings, or represents a flute which has the usual mouthpiece01/, against which Ioo a blast of air is directed, anda series of elevenholes 01?, corresponding to the usual key and finger controlled holes ofthe flute. The holes a are arranged in a single straight row, as shownin Fig. 1. Z) 1) represent the fingers which open and close the saidholes, each finger being a lever fulcrumed at one end at b and having atits outer end a suitable face or washer of yielding material adapted totightly close the corresponding hole a when the finger is depressedthereon. A blast of air is supplied to the mouthpiece by a blowingmechanism which comprises a plurality of pressure-bellows c, which arepreferably four in number, a wind-chest c, which receives air from allthe bellows, a tube or conduit 0 preferably flexible, extending from thewind-chest to a point adjacent to the mouthpiece, and a nozzle 0 at theouter end of the conduit 0 said nozzle being adjustably connected withthe flute and adapted to deliver a blast of air in appropriate relationto the mouthpiece to sound or blow the flute in the same manner that itis. blown by the lungs and lips of a human being. The nozzle c isprovided with a compressible clamp c, which surrounds the flute and istightened and loosened by a set-screw 0 so that the nozzle can bereadily adjusted relatively to the mouthpiece a. When the clamp isloosened, it can be turned on the flute to vary the position of theair-delivering end of the nozzle relatively to the mouthpiece a. Thepressu re-bellows c are operated by a continuouslydriven motor, whichincludes an elongated spur or ratchet-wheel d, attached to a shaft d,which is journaled in bearings on the supporting-frame, a driving-springengaged at one end with a barrel 61 which "is mounted loosely upon ashaft 61 with which the other end of the spring is engaged, a gear-wheeld affixed to the barrel, and gearing d d 61 connecting the wheel d withthe shaft d. Suitable provisions are made for winding the motor-spring,the same including a crank d on the shaft 6F, and a ratchet-and-pawlconnection between'the said shaft and the barrel 01 Eachpressure-bellows c is connected with the spur-wheel (Z of the motor by anormally inoperative coupling device,which comprises alongitudinally-movable bar 6, having a tooth or projection 2, adapted toengage the teeth of the spur-wheel d, said projection 6' being normallyout of the path of the teeth of the spur-wheel, as shown in Fig. 2, alever e pivoted to one end of the sliding rod 6 and fulcrumed at c to afixed support, and a rod or link e connecting the lever c with thebellows. Said coupling device is made operative to connect the bellows cwith the spur-wheel d by the following means: Under the tooth orprojection c of each of the sliding bars 6 is a vertical rod or spindlef, having at its lower end a button f, which bears on a diaphragm fwhich covers a cell or depression f in one of the walls g of asuctionbox 9. The depressionf diaphragm f and rod f constitute awell-known form of pneumatic operating mechanism and will be hereinafterreferred to as a pneumatic.

72. h, represent suction-bellows, which communicate with and draw airfrom the suctionbox g, said bellows being operated by the motor abovedescribed through wrist-pins 71. attached to disks on the shaft (1, androds h connecting said wrist-pins with the bellows h 71'. Thecommunication of the bellows h h with the suction-box is through anintermediate bellows h, which communicates with the suction-box througha channel 72.

t represents a channel-board which projects above the suction-box g andhas a series of channels 2",four in nu mber, each channel communicatingwith one of the depressions f covered bythe diaphragms f there beingfour of these depressions and diaphragms and four of the correspondingrods f, one for each of the coupling devices which connect the motorwith the pressurebellows 0.

j represents the perforated music-sheet, which is mounted on asupply-roll j and a 'winding-rollj and passes from one roll to the otherover the channel-board i, as shown in Fig. 2. The sheetj hasperforations which are arranged to admit air to the channels 2', saidperforations being arranged on the four lines 2' (shown in Fig. 7,) thearrangement of the perforations depending upon the composition to beplayed. \Vhen a perforation on one of the lines 2' coincides with thecorresponding channel *6, air is admitted to the cell or cavity f andthus permits the corresponding diaphragm f to be raised by theatmospheric pressure caused by the rarefaction of air in the suction-boxg, the diaphragm being thus caused to raise the rodf resting on it, andthus raise the bar 6 resting on said rod, so that the projection e onsaid bar is engaged by one of the teeth of the spur-wheel d. Therotation of the spurwheel moves the bar e endwise and imparts motionthrough the lever e and connectingrod 6 to the correspondingpressure-bellows, one bellows being operated singly or more than onesimultaneously, according to the arrangement of perforations on thelines 7?. When a channel 2" is obstructed by the sheet j, air is cut offfrom the depression f under the diaphragm f, and the weight of the bar cand rodfcauses the diaphragm to sink into the cavity f the projection ebeing thus disconnected from the spur-wheel. Each cavity has a leak orsmall vent to allow the escape of the contained air when the diaphragmsinks. I prefer to joint the bar 6 at 0 so that only a small portion ofthe bar has to be raised by the rod f, as indicated in Fig. 6. A fixedknock-off device 7c, Fig. 6, is arranged to strike the beveled side ofthe projection e and force the same out of engagement with the tooth ofthe wheel d after the rod 0 has been sufficiently moved by said tooth.

There are three registers or degrees of pitch to the flute, or, in otherwords, there can be three different tones produced by simply varying thepressure of the air at the mouth- ICC piece. Two of the pressure-bellowso, acting alternately, will produce the lower or normal pitch, commonlyknown as the lower register, which includes all the tones from lower D,as represented by D below middle 0. The addition of a third bellows willgive. a higher or medium tone, known as the middle register, while theaddition of a fourth bellows will produce the highest tone of the upperregister. It will be seen, therefore, that by the means described I haveprovided for the different pressures of air that are produced by theaction of the lungs when the flute is played in the ordinary manner. Ihave also provided means for obstructing or cutting off the blast of airat the nozzle 0 thus performing the operation of tonguing the flute. To

' this end I provide a cut-off valve m, Figs. 4

and 5, which is movable in a chamber m formed in a fixed block m, whichcontains a part of the blast-conduit leading to the mouthpiece 0 saidchamber being a part of the said conduit. The valve m is attached to arod m forming a part of a pneumatic, such as that above described, thedepression m under the diaphragm m of said pneumatic being connectedwith a channel a, extending through the wall g of the suction-box andthronghthe channel-board t. The musicsheet j has perforations arrangedon a line 11, said perforations moving over the channel '22 andadmitting air to the cavity m to raise the valve m. When the valve 'm israised, it cuts off the air from the nozzle 0 either wholly or in part,thus producingthe tonguing effect.

The fingers b are operatedby a series of pneumatics similar to thoseabove described,

each of said pneumatics comprising a rod 0, bearing against one of thefingers b, and a diaphragm 0, supporting said rod. Cavities 0 under thediaphragms o are connected with channels p in the wall 9 andchannel-board t', there being as many channels 9 as there are fingers1). Consequently in the present case there are eleven of the channels 9.The

' music-sheet is provided with perforations arranged in a series ofeleven lines 10, said perforations admitting air to the channels 19, andthus causing the pneumatics connected with said channels to raise andrelease the fingers b in accordance with the arrangement of perforationsin the sheet.

I do not limit myself to the arrangement and construction of parts hereshown and described and the same may be variously modified withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention.

The winding-roll 7' is rotated to move the sheet j over thechannel-board by a pulley r x on the shaft (1, a belt r connecting saidpulley with a pulley r on an intermediate shaft 8, and gears r r theroll 7 The series of rows of perforations p in the sheet j, which causethe actuation of the fingers, may be termed fin gering perforations.

connecting the shaft 3 with The series of rows .of perforations i whichcause the actuation of the bellows 0, supplying air to the mouthpiece,may be called blowing perforations, while the single row of perforationsn,which operate the tonguingvalve 'm, may be called tonguingperforations.

Having thus explained the nature of my invention and described a way ofconstructing and using the same, although without having attempted toset forth all the forms in which it may be embodied or all the modes ofits use, I declare that what I claim is- 1. A mechanical musicalinstrument comprising. a stationary sound-producing body having ablowing-nozzle, a mouthpiece, and finger-holes, an automatic fingeringmechanism, and a blowing mechanism comprising a plurality of air-forcingdevices connected with the blowing-nozzle, a motor normally disconnectedfrom said air-forcing devices, and means for automatically connectingone or more of the air-forcing devices with the motor.

2. In a mechanical musical instrument, a blowing'mechanism comprising anair-forcing device, a motor normally disconnected therefrom, andautomatic means for connecting the motor with the air-forcing device anddisconnecting it therefrom.

3. In a mechanical musical instrument, a blowing mechanism comprising anair-delivering conduit, a series of-air-forcing devices connectedtherewith, a motor common to all .said coupling devices, and aperforated sheet adapted to control said actuators.

4. In a mechanical musical instrument, the

combination of an air-pressure mechanism to form an air-blast, amechanical motor therefor, a series of sound-regulating fingers, anair-exhaust mechanism, and devices operated by the exhaust mechanism tomake the airpressure mechanism operative by its motor and to operate thefingers.

5. In a mechanical musical instrument, the combination of ablowingmechanism comprising pressure-bellows and a motor therefor, the saidbellows being normally disconnected from the motor, normally inoperativecoupling devices between the bellows and motor, a series of fingersformed to close sound-regulating holes, a series of pneumatics engagedwith the said coupling devices, another series of pneumatics engagedwith the fingers, and air-exhausting means for operating saidpneumatics. I

having a mouthpiece and a series of holes representing the chromaticscale, a music-sheet 7 having rows of primary or fingering perfora tionscorresponding in number with the holes of the flute, and a series ofrows of secondary or blowing perforations, a series of pnuematics andfingers controlled by the primary perforations, and a series ofair-forcing devices controlled by the secondary perforations, forsupplying air to the mouthpiece.

8. A mechanical musical instrument, com-' prising a series ofpneumatically-operated fingers, a series of pressure bellows or feedersto force air to a mouthpiece, a series of windways controlling thefingers, a series of wind- Ways controlling the said bellows, and asingle channel-board common to both series of windways.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my sig- 1 nature in presence of twoWitnesses.

JOHN MCTAMMANY.

Witnesses:

0. F. BROWN, A. D. HARRISON.

